[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 42 (Monday, October 19, 1998)]
[Pages 2038-2040]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in New York City on the Situation in Kosovo

October 12, 1998

    Good evening. In recent weeks, faced with a deepening and dangerous 
crisis in Kosovo, the United States has worked to stop the violence and 
repression and put the people of Kosovo on the path to peace.

[[Page 2039]]

    Last month the United Nations Security Council, through Resolution 
1199, demanded that President Milosevic implement a cease-fire, withdraw 
the forces he has recently sent to Kosovo and garrison the rest, allow 
refugees to return to their villages, give immediate access to 
humanitarian relief agencies, and agree to a timetable for autonomy 
negotiations with the Kosovar Albanians.
    President Milosevic has not yet complied with the international 
community's demands. Given his intransigence, the 16 members of NATO 
have just voted to give our military commanders the authority to carry 
out airstrikes against Serbia. This is only the second time in NATO's 
history that it has authorized the use of force--and the first time in 
the case of a country brutally repressing its own people.
    The international community is now prepared to act. But as I have 
said from the beginning, we would prefer to resolve this crisis 
peacefully, rather than through military action. That is why I sent 
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke on a mission to make it clear to President 
Milosevic what the world expects him to do to avert the NATO airstrikes.
    Ambassador Holbrooke has reported to me, and in the past few hours 
to NATO, that, faced with a solid international front, President 
Milosevic has made a series of commitments. If fully implemented--and 
that is a critical and very big ``if''--these commitments could achieve 
the international community's objectives as stated in the United Nations 
resolution.
    In light of President Milosevic's pledges and the independent 
verification system that will be established, NATO has agreed to delay 
action for 96 hours.
    President Milosevic has agreed, first, to fully comply with U.N. 
Security Council Resolution 1199. Second, he has accepted an intrusive 
international inspection to verify compliance. Third, he has agreed to a 
timetable for completing interim autonomy arrangements with the Kosovar 
Albanians.
    If these commitments are met, and the international community will 
be able to see for itself whether they are met, they could provide the 
basis for peace and progress.
    All along our objectives have been clear: to end the violence in 
Kosovo which threatens to spill over into neighboring countries and to 
spark instability in the heart of Europe; to reverse a humanitarian 
catastrophe in the making as tens of thousands of homeless refugees risk 
freezing or starving to death in the winter; and to seek a negotiated 
peace.
    But let me be very clear: Commitments are not compliance. Balkan 
graveyards are filled with President Milosevic's broken promises. In the 
days ahead, we will focus not only on what President Milosevic says, but 
on what we see that he does through a robust on-the-ground and in-the-
air verification system.
    I hope that the commitments President Milosevic has made can create 
a peaceful way forward. That has been our preference all along. But 
together with our NATO partners, we will determine whether President 
Milosevic follows words with deeds. And we will remain ready to take 
military action if Mr. Milosevic fails to make good on his commitments 
this time.
    As we approach the next century, we must never forget one of the 
most indelible lessons of this one we're about to leave, that America 
has a direct stake in keeping the peace in Europe before isolated acts 
of violence turn into large-scale wars. Today determined diplomacy 
backed by force is creating the path to peace.
    I want to thank Mr. Holbrooke; I want to thank Secretary General 
Solana and our NATO allies for all the contributions they have made. Now 
we must and we will do what is necessary to see that that path to peace 
is followed.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 8:50 p.m. at the New York Hilton and 
Towers. In his remarks, he referred to President Slobodan Milosevic of 
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro); Special 
Envoy Richard Holbrooke, the President's nominee to be Ambassador to the 
U.N.; and NATO Secretary General Javier Solana.

[[Page 2040]]